IBASeoul: Working in harmony with in-house lawyers

The views of corporate counsel have been prominent at the International Bar Association’s annual co...

The views of corporate counsel have been prominent at the International Bar Association’s annual conference in Seoul.

Much of what happens at the International Bar Association’s annual conference (IBA) is necessarily corporate. Tuesday’s showcase session on corporate counsel, chaired by former Novartis general counsel Felix Ehrat, demonstrated the same in ample measure in shining a light on the role of general counsel and their perspectives towards law firms, from which so much dispute resolution work flows.

Of course, in the interests of balance, there were also panels on strategic human rights litigation, legal aid and pro bono. But with insights from in-house lawyers like Edith Shih, the group counsel and executive director of Hong Kong-headquartered multinational conglomerate CK Hutchinson, energy lawyer and in-house counsel, Asma Muttawa, formerly of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna and Sirgoo Lee, chief executive of Korean cryptocurrency firm Dunamu, the focus was on the corporate relationship.

REMAINING ACCOUNTABLE

As Shih noted, that relationship spans the whole life of a deal, but she reminded her audience: “You have to live with your decisions, because there’s no quick fix. You have to be happy with every stone, and make sure you are happy with decisions, as you will be accountable to the company in the years to come.”

The audience were encouraged to look at the whole value chain of legal relationships, echoing lessons being shared elsewhere in conference proceedings about utilising the benefits of legal change management – the ‘Uberisation’ phenomenon – which Lee called a “unique opportunity”, although the acceleration of change is not without problems – nor is the relationship between external and internal counsel.

To some, that can be exhilarating, with Lee saying that his work was changing not just in his company, but in a fast-evolving industry, “where there is no law or regulation, and we’re making the rules up as we go”.

With companies increasing the scale and scope of in-house work, ranging from strategic advice, stronger product knowledge, smart contracts and smarter panel arrangements, traditional contract work and negotiation is being overtaken by advisory and management mandates, including the active management of litigation.

GUARDIANS OF CULTURE

The president of the Law Society of England & Wales, Simon Davis, was on hand to offer his advice from a disputes perspective, where he noted the growth of in-house lawyers in his own jurisdiction, as well as the need for close partnerships, while Charlie Jacobs, Linklaters’ senior partner and chairman offered a transactional perspective.

Davis was no less generous in his time with the Young Lawyers Committee later that day, when he delivered a masterclass with Law Society director of strategic relationships, Stephen Denyer, on how to pitch to such clients present in litigation beauty parades and how to keep them.

He did so because, in part, the number of solicitors working in-house has more than doubled over the last 15 years, with over 25% of the Society’s membership comprised of in-house lawyers across private and public sectors, and because he and Denyer understood that only through developing soft skills early, can the necessary communication to foster long-term relationships be engendered.

At the showcase session, Davis noted that in-house lawyers took a through-life approach to litigation or transactions. Private practice lawyers, he said, work on separate aspects of a matter, dipping in and out, but general counsel were engaged with the whole. That was increasingly attractive as a career option, the panel agreed.

That all-encompassing approach meant that lawyers were no longer focused on contract management or risk mitigation and instead acted as a guardian of the firm’s corporate culture, enhancing both legal, ethical and regulatory dimensions.

That point was endorsed by Samsung’s head of global legal affairs, Sangwoo Kim, who spoke at the Legal Practice Division’s lunch the following day. Kim said: “Every business must care about corporate social responsibility... It's a duty to society, not just to shareholders.”

Assisting the business in all aspects of its practice, as seen in discussions on risk mitigation and litigation crisis management which was covered by CDR yesterday, and supporting it at all levels of leadership, suggests such guardians will still need disputes lawyers for time to come.

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